EBay Ends Bitter Proxy Fight With Carl Icahn

On Thursday, Carl Icahn issued a statement saying he had reached a deal with eBay (EBAY[1]) to halt a proxy battle over its PayPal online payment unit.

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Source: Flickr[3]

Under the agreement, EBAY will add an independent director to its board, while Carl Icahn will withdraw two candidates he had nominated for the board. Carl Icahn issued a statement indicated that EBAY CEO John Donohue would meet regularly with him to talk about PayPal’s future, Reuters notes.

Carl Icahn had urged EBAY to spin off PayPal[4] in January, but moderated that to recommending an IPO for 20% of the payment processing unit in March. EBAY senior management has resisted the idea of a PayPal spinoff.

In a series of public letters to the online auction giant’s board, Icahn has accused board members of lapses in corporate government and conflicts of interest[5].

Carl Icahn said he maintains that a spin-off would be the best strategy for PayPal. Investors appeared to have mixed views of the idea[6], according to at least one report.

On the news, EBAY shares fell more than 2%. Over the past 12 months, EBAY stock has shed more than 2%.